Our Most Precious Resource

Today in my music rotation, the song "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride came up. It's about child abuse and the silent, innocent victims of violence primarily at the hands of those who should be their ultimate protectors: their parents.

I'm a parent, and I would do anything to protect the lives and health of my two wonderful children.



Thank you, Martina.

Please visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and ChildHelp - and consider donating to these worthy causes.

Our children are our future, and they must be defended.

Poster Girl for the Nanny Society

Memo to those who don't know better: your local McDonald's running out of Chicken McNuggets is NOT a valid reason to call 911.

Yet another tragic case of an American who's been bred to rely on authority rather than themselves.

Shiver me timbers!

Yup, it's that day again!

Avast ye scurvy knaves!

I'm back

Back to the blog after about 10 days. Got away from it since I was on a business trip last week.

Best characterization of Pennsylvania I've ever heard

Just heard this on the Rush Limbaugh Program:

"Pennsylvania is like a little United States; you've got Philadelphia on one side, Pittsburgh on the other, and America in the middle."

Spot on Rush, spot on.

When in doubt, use a blender

The world is a dangerous place; it's full of bad guys. And the two greatest forces for good in the world are the Blendtec Total Blender and Chuck Norris.

See that video, and the rest of the capabilities of the Blendtec Total Blender at Will it Blend?

And as they say, "don't try it at home".

Two greats have passed...

Photo from The New York Times

William F. Buckley, Jr.

Father of Modern American Conservatism

November 24, 1925 - February 27, 2008

Photo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Myron Cope

Voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers

January 23, 1929 - February 27, 2008

May they both rest in peace.

I really got to get back into posting...

It is an election year...
My church and diocese are in ecclesiastical turmoil...
There are lots of stories out there I can find talking about individuals' finest hours...
And I've got opinions, and you're going to hear 'em...

America's Dog!

Image from the New York Times

Congratulations to Uno, the 15-inch Beagle, 2008 Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show! He's the first ever Beagle (my favorite dog breed, by the way) to win at Westminster. FINALLY, a winner that looks like somebody's pet and companion and NOT one of those ridiculous poodles or other silly looking dogs.

Story at: New York Times, Fox News, ESPN

If you are stranded, stay with your car!

I'm a big CSI fan, and the season premiere was last night. The story line picked up with Sara Sidle pinned where we saw her at the end of the last season, underneath a wrecked car by the hands of the "Miniature Killer".

Well, the character managed to free herself, and then proceeded to trek off into the desert, injured, with no supplies or knowledge of her whereabouts. Yes, it was raining heavilly. Yes, she almost drowned before freeing herself. Yes, she was in dire straits. However, she should have stayed close to the vehicle. As the storyline had it, Sara's colleagues with the LVPD found the car in fairly short order. Meanwhile, Sara is off miles away dying from hyperthermia and dehydration in a 110-degree Nevada desert. Fortunately, they found her before death, so perhaps Jorja Fox's contract was renewed. Fictional story, yes. Bad example of basic survival skills, yes.

I blogged last December about the tragic story of the Kim family. Had they all stayed with their car, they would most likely all be alive today. Your chances of survival increase dramatically if you can stay with or close to your vehicle.

If you are stranded in a vehicle, stay with it if you are in no immediate danger. If you are in immediate danger, move to safety as close by as possible, then return to your vehicle as soon as conditions improve. Cars and trucks in the wild are easier to find; people aren't. Never go seeking help unless you can see it nearby (within 100 meters distance is a good rule of thumb).

Avast, ye scurvy knaves!

Shiver me timbers, it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrr!

First time Fasching

Saturday evening, my wife and I attended a Fasching celebration (a.k.a German Mardi Gras, or "Karneval") hosted by the Teutonia Mannerchor, a Pittsburgh-area German social club/heritage society/choir on the invite of a friend of ours. We had a wonderful time, and hopefully will make this a yearly event.

Of course, the free flowing (and for the US, cheap) Hacker-Pschorr and Spaten didn't make things worse. ;-)

It's been a while...

Boy, I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but hadn't realized it has been two weeks!

Carnegie Mellon - no mascot?

This article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is talking about Carnegie Mellon University's lack of an official mascot. This reminds me of a very entertaining dialogue exchange between a friend of mine and a USMC Lieutenant Colonel during our Battalion Commander's inspection at OCS, July 1990:

LTCOL: "What school do you go to?"
Friend: "Sir, Carnegie Mellon University, Sir!"
LTCOL: "What's your mascot?"
Friend: "Sir, the candidate does not understand the question."
LTCOL: "What's the name of your football team?"
Friend: "The Tartans, Sir!"
LTCOL: "What the hell is a Tartan?"
Friend: "It's a PLAID, Sir!"

The Lieutenant Colonel (sorry, don't remember his name) walked away shaking his head. What a great military moment...

Bad Photoshop Job of the Day

Glad he's our new coach, but did they have to cut and paste Mike Tomlin's head onto a Steelers' shirt? Let's show the guy some respect! Picture direct from the Steelers' website:

Doesn't anybody at the Steelers have a digital camera and a spare polo shirt, so that they could have done a real job?

Back for the New Year

Greetings all, hope everybody is having a Happy New Year! Really, I'm going to be posting more, not that I actually think anybody is reading this! ;-)

Basic Winter Survival

All I'm going to say is that rule one of being stranded in a car in winter is to stay with the car, unless help is in sight. Don't believe me? The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says so. For me, I learned that in Boy Scouts circa 1984.

My prayers are with Kati, Penelope, and Sabine Kim for the loss of their husband and father.

It's about time!

That I finally got around to posting again! Seriously though, the reason why I'm saying "it's about time" is there's finally an American (that is, Republican) running for office that is calling a spade a spade and going past the "L" word in labelling his Democratic opponent. He's using the "C" word, for "Communist". See this article linked by Matt Drudge.

I've finally blocked out all the coverage of Natalee Holloway from my mind and then...

...I see this story linked by Matt Drudge about there being a suspect in custody in the JonBenet Ramsey case. "All hands, prepare to repel boarders!", because we're about to be inundated with 24x7 coverage of this. Don't get me wrong, if this suspect is indeed guilty, I'm pleased to see a murderer brought to justice. But why was this a national news story in the first place?

So, if you're of my mind, stay away from the TV news. I might just tune into Fox News at 10:00 tonight however, just to see if Greta van Susteren has already made it to Colorado. The other TV legal vulture, Nancy Grace, won't be far behind...